1 That's a really good point! I think I need to calculate my MAGI too since I'm right on the edge for some education credits. Is there a simple way to figure out what gets added back to AGI to determine MAGI? My tax software is confusing me.

14 The main items that get added back to your AGI to calculate MAGI include student loan interest deductions, tuition and fees deduction (though this has expired), half of self-employment tax, excluded foreign income, non-taxable Social Security benefits, and IRA contribution deductions. For education credits specifically, your MAGI calculation would add back any foreign income exclusion, foreign housing exclusion/deduction, and excluded income from Puerto Rico or American Samoa. The student loan interest deduction actually doesn't get added back for education credit purposes, which is good news if you're on the edge of qualifying.

4 But wouldn't that only work if your income sources and deductions stayed pretty much the same from year to year? The OP mentioned this is their first year with multiple income sources.

I'm actually self-employed now, which is why I'm stuck with marketplace insurance. Would that QSEHRA thing apply to me still, or is there something similar for fully self-employed people?

Since you're fully self-employed, QSEHRA wouldn't apply to you as it's only for employees of small businesses. However, you should look into the self-employed health insurance deduction! As a self-employed person, you can typically deduct 100% of your health insurance premiums (including marketplace plans) as an adjustment to income on Schedule 1, without needing to meet that 7.5% AGI threshold. This is completely different from the medical expense deduction and one of the big tax advantages of self-employment. Just make sure your self-employment income is at least as much as your total premiums for the full deduction.

This is great advice but only works if you specifically choose an HSA-compatible high deductible health plan (HDHP) from the marketplace. Many marketplace plans don't qualify for HSA contributions. You'll need to check if the plan is officially designated as HSA-eligible when you enroll.

That's a really good point about student loans! Do you know if there are other income-based programs that might be affected by filing status? I'm wondering about healthcare subsidies too.

Yes, healthcare subsidies through the Marketplace can definitely be affected by your filing status! Filing jointly combines your income which could potentially reduce or eliminate your subsidy if it pushes you over the threshold. This is something many people overlook when deciding how to file. Other income-based programs that can be affected include certain tax credits like the Earned Income Credit, Child and Dependent Care Credit, and education credits which phase out at higher income levels. Some medical expense deductions are also affected since they're only deductible to the extent they exceed a percentage of your AGI.

You generally need to file a tax return in any state where you earned income, regardless of your federal filing status. So if you have income in Indiana and your husband has income in Illinois, you'd each need to file in your respective states.

Wait so if my ETH earns staking rewards I have to report that as income even if I never sell the ETH? That seems ridiculous - how do you even track the value at the exact moment you received each tiny reward?

Exactly right. The IRS considers staking rewards similar to interest income - taxable when received even if you don't sell the underlying asset. It's like if you earn interest in a savings account, you pay taxes on that interest even if you don't withdraw it from the bank. Most staking platforms now provide reports showing the USD value at the time each reward was issued. Without those, it can be extremely difficult to calculate manually, especially with daily or even hourly reward distributions. This is actually another area where tracking tools like the one mentioned earlier can help since they automatically record the USD value of each reward when it hits your wallet.

I used TurboTax last year for my crypto and it was ok for basic stuff. You can import from major exchanges like Coinbase directly. But if you have DeFi transactions or used multiple smaller exchanges, it gets messy fast. Had to manually enter a bunch of transactions which was tedious.

Thanks for the clear explanation! This makes a lot more sense than what the volunteers told me. Do you know if filing the 2018 return now will hurt my OIC chances for 2017? Like, will adding more debt make them less likely to approve it?

Filing your 2018 return now won't hurt your OIC chances - in fact, it's absolutely required. When you submit an OIC, the IRS will check that you're in compliance with all filing requirements before they even consider your offer. As for the additional debt potentially affecting your offer amount, it could be factored into your "reasonable collection potential" calculation. However, this is much better than having your OIC rejected outright due to non-compliance. The IRS looks at your overall ability to pay, so while the total debt matters, your financial situation is the primary factor in determining an acceptable offer amount.

Yes, there's a 3-year deadline for claiming refunds. So for 2018 taxes, you would have needed to file by May 17, 2022 (the deadline was extended that year due to COVID) to claim any refund owed to you. After that, any refund you were entitled to is forfeited to the Treasury.